{"id":29622,"date":"2013-05-02T03:37:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T07:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=29622"},"modified":"2013-08-30T10:13:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T14:13:07","slug":"keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/","title":{"rendered":"keith stewart’s books on farming + 20 points to ponder"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chris<\/a>
Chris Ramirez\/New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keith Stewart is a writer despite himself. Even with the massive responsibilities and demands of his organic farm with it’s hundred or so varieties of produce, he has written regularly and wonderfully about the\u00a0inside<\/em>\u00a0of farming and living a rural life, from numerous magazine articles to\u00a0It’s a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago,\u00a0Keith embarked on summing-up the essentials he’d learned over decades of farming, having started from-scratch as an escapee from the city. It was a massive undertaking on top of the ever-changing, improvisational, exhausting, gratifying realities of farming. Storey’s Guide to Growing Organic Vegetables & Herbs for Market<\/a>\"\"\u00a0is the 500+ page result, a curiously compelling read for anyone with farm fantasies (realistic or not).<\/p>\n

Reading Keith’s book, I find myself an avid armchair farmer, as much from happily learning about Seed Germination and Potable Water Tests as by the more general life principles scattered throughout the book (the hallmark of all of Keith’s writing), \u00a0like Surprise, Excesses of Youth, Competing Forces<\/strong> and Looking After Number One<\/strong>. The honest, methodical thinking behind Twenty Points to Ponder<\/strong> before becoming a farmer, \u00a0which include Deal Makers and Deal Breakers<\/strong>, could be applied to just about any business. I especially like Question Marks<\/strong>, which make for illuminating self-analysis. Here are a few:<\/p>\n

Are you looking for a different life \u2014 or a different job?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you a generalist or a specialist? Do you mind having lots of different things to do and often no enough time to get all of them done?<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you an optimist or a realist? When you embark on a new undertaking, are you willing to entertain the worst-case scenario as well as the best?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Storey<\/a><\/p>\n

…Ketih has managed to write a bible, while handling the endlessly improvisational life of farming. Open it anywhere, and you’ll find something that makes you THINK.<\/p>\n

\u2014Sally Schneider<\/em><\/p>\n

Related posts: keith stewart\u2019s \u2018it\u2019s a long road to a tomato\u2019 (farming = improvising)
\n<\/a>radical shift: economist into farmer\/forager
\n<\/a>on tomatoes and improvising
\n<\/a>alliums as alt-summer flowers
\n<\/a>life change: photographer into farmer
\n<\/a>manny howard\u2019s empire of dirt
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keith Stewart is a writer despite himself. Even with the massive responsibilities and demands of his organic farm with it’s hundred or so varieties of produce, he has written regularly and wonderfully about the\u00a0inside\u00a0of farming and living a rural life, from numerous magazine articles to\u00a0It’s a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8361,458,206,31,6548,6549,89,8362,8364],"tags":[448,6143,373,5126],"yoast_head":"\nkeith stewart's books on farming + 20 points to ponder - Improvised Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keith Stewart is a writer despite himself. 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Even with the massive responsibilities and demands of his organic farm with it's hundred or so varieties of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Improvised Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theimprovisedlife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-02T07:37:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-30T14:13:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/keith-portrait.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"372\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sally Schneider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@improvised_life\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@improvised_life\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sally Schneider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sally Schneider\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2fa7e3722002ee0c5ff9fde7a0753bc4\"},\"headline\":\"keith stewart’s books on farming + 20 points to ponder\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-02T07:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-30T14:13:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/\"},\"wordCount\":393,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"farming\",\"farming basics\",\"Keith Stewart\",\"right livelihood\"],\"articleSection\":[\"books + zines\",\"creative process\",\"garden\",\"inspiring people\",\"material\",\"mindset\",\"paths + processes\",\"space\/home\",\"tools\/wares\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/05\/02\/keith-stewarts-books-on-farming-20-points-to-ponder\/\",\"name\":\"keith stewart's books on farming + 20 points to ponder - Improvised Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-02T07:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-30T14:13:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Keith Stewart is a writer despite himself. 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